1. Nutrition represents the combined activities of countless food substances.
2. Vitamin supplements do not act in isolation as they do in their whole food state. They are not a panacea for good health.
3. There are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants.
4. Genes do not determine disease on their own; they must be activated or expressed, and nutrition plays a critical role in determining which genes, good and bad, are expressed.
5. Good nutrition can substantially control the adverse effects of noxious chemicals.
6. Good nutrition that prevents disease in its early stages can also halt or reverse disease in its later stages.
7. Good nutrition beneficial for a particular chronic disease will support good health across the board.
8. Good nutrition creates health in all areas of our existence.
Background
These are set out by Professor Collin Campbell, Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University & son in The China Study (2005). Based on the China Study, the book concluded that eating vegetarian food (a whole plant food diet that avoids animal proteins such as beef, poultry, eggs, fish, and milk) will minimize or reverse the development of chronic diseases.
Professor Campbell was one of the directors of The China Study, a 20 year project involving Cornell University, Oxford University and China’s Academy of Preventive Medicine.
The China Study surveyed the relationship between mortality rates, diets and lifestyles of 6,500 people in 65 rural counties in China. It examined more than 350 variables of health and nutrition and the relationship between eating animal products and illnesses such as cancers, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. It compared the prevalence of Western diseases in each county.
The New York Times described the study as “the Grand Prix of epidemiology” [epidemiology is the study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations].
The China Study found that one of the strongest predictors of Western diseases was blood cholesterol with a statistical significance level equal to or exceeding 99.9 percent certainty. The study linked lower blood cholesterol levels to lower rates of heart disease and cancer.
Randolph's World 